I had thought this might be one of the mystery bottles from Seller Senka’s lucky bag, but when I dug through my past records, it seems it actually came from Ukiuki’s lucky bag. It’s already sold out online, but the original retail price was a very reasonable 1,380 yen. For what it’s worth, I think the label looks pretty cool. Since it’s a fairly old vintage—2019—I opened it with a bit of expectation.
In the end, though, it was pretty much “you get what you pay for.” In the glass, it shows a dense ruby color, almost black right out to the rim. The nose has somewhat muted aromas of jammy blackberry and spice. There’s a slightly clogged feeling to the bouquet—it doesn’t rise smoothly from the glass—but then again, I’ve never encountered a truly enchanting, perfumed nose from Monastrell (Mourvèdre), so perhaps this is just how it is. On the palate, it feels somewhat overripe and a bit jammy. I had expected that six years of age might have mellowed it nicely, but instead it seemed to have gone in this direction, which was a bit of a letdown. I briefly wondered if the bottle might be slightly off, but the small amount I left in a mini bottle drank perfectly fine the next day—if anything, it was easier to drink than on the first day—so perhaps this is simply the style of the wine.